Trailer for the documentary Somewhere Near Tapachula, which screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival 2010.
In November 2000, Alan and Pam Skuse left their home on the Sunshine Coast of Australia, to volunteer at an orphanage for twelve months in Tapachula, in Chiapas, a coastal city at the base of an extinct volcano. Little did they know that the organization they signed on with would closed after six months, leaving the Skuses with a choice: to return to Australia, or take on the overwhelming challenge of caring for the remaining children on their own. Pam and Alan lacked resources and critical support, but dreamt of creating a true refuge, in place of a cold institution, or worse, the existing vacuum. In this coastal city with no other wave riders, Pam and Alan set out to create a unique surf community, dreaming of hope for children who otherwise had none. Surfing here is when children who suffered the unimaginable forget the past and just be in the moment.